New home for flying foxes

The Department of Environment and Climate Change hopes it can lure Maclean's flying fox population to an alternative home.

About 300 trees have been planted on an unused council road reserve, next to the Maclean Rainforest Reserve, where the bats currently roost.

In recent times the bats have also moved into the nearby Maclean High School grounds, where their noise and smell have become a major problem for students.

The department's Jon Keats says it is early days but the saplings will become a future home for the bats.

"We acknowledge that the trees are going to take a number of years to mature so it is a longer term plan from that perspective but we think we have to make a start on creating additional habitat that is away from the sensitive school and residential areas," he said.